Squeeze
Mulder and Scully investigate a serial killer who has been active since at least 1903 and is capable of squeezing his body through narrow gaps. Summary Teaser BALTIMORE, MARYLAND At dusk, a business man, George Usher, walks onto a street in Baltimore, Maryland and strolls to his car, unknowingly being watched by a pair of menacing eyes hidden inside a storm drain. After Usher exits an elevator onto the floor of an office building, the doors to the elevator again open but the cabin of the elevator is now gone, exposing only the cables in the open shaft, which tremble as if, behind the wall, they are being used for climbing. Usher makes a loving call to his wife, from his office, and as he leaves the room to pour himself some coffee, a vent in the office is first quietly unscrewed and then starts to be lifted open by the fingers of a dirt-covered hand. Usher returns to his office where, after his door is suddenly closed from inside, sounds of a struggle can be heard and the door handle repeatedly rattles, but the noises abruptly end, a large crack appearing on the outside of the door. As Usher's coffee bloodily drips on the floor from his desk and he lies dead on the ground, the vent is screwed back in place by his mysterious assailant. Act One WASHINGTON, D.C. FBI Agents Dana Scully and Tom Colton meet in a Washington, D.C. restaurant. They are old Academy classmates and make smalltalk about their careers. Colton is a highly ambitious agent who speaks teasingly to Scully about her partner, Fox Mulder, whom Scully admits is a little "out there". Colton then starts to tell Scully about a case he has been assigned that involves a series of victims, the latest being George Usher, who were each killed in a location where there were no obvious entry points and were each found with their liver having been ripped, using bare hands, out of their body. Although Scully considers the case may be an X-file, Colton is determined to solve the case himself but also asks for Scully's help and reluctantly agrees that she can include Mulder in the investigation. CRIME SCENE GEORGE USHER'S OFFICE BALTIMORE, MARYLAND In Usher's office, Mulder queries Scully as to why he wasn't personally asked to help with the case rather than her, seemingly surprised when Scully mentions he has an undesirable reputation, and asks if she thinks he is "spooky". Colton arrives in the office, apologizing for being late, and is formally introduced to Mulder by Scully but asks Mulder, in a jesting and off-handed manner, about his explanation for the murder. Mulder intentionally plays up to Colton's expectation of him as a kook, emphasizing his own otherworldly ideas, before leaving Scully and Colton to converse. Mulder then discovers a bizarrely elongated fingerprint on the vent that opened during Usher's murder but Colton doubts that anyone could have crawled through it. In his basement X-files office, Mulder reveals fingerprints to Scully that tie the recent murders to a series of related murders that were reported in the X-files, the others having occurred in the 1960s and 1930s as well as a single one in 1903. Although Scully begins to say that Colton never mentioned these earlier murders, Mulder interrupts her by stating that Colton is probably not aware of them. Mulder also concludes, from the pattern of the earlier murders, that two more are due to be committed, this year. When Scully questions him about his theories, Mulder clarifies that he does not think the murders are copycats, citing the identical nature of the fingerprints as evidence of this, and professes that he also does not believe aliens are actually involved in the case. The two agents argue whether the case belongs to Colton or themselves, with Mulder insisting that the murders were in the X-files long before the recent related murders and Scully saying that Mulder's theories are unwanted by the FBI in general, but Mulder eventually suggests that they conduct their own investigation, separate from a simultaneous investigation by the Violent Crimes Section. Scully types up an impressive profile of the killer at her home and presents it to a group of agents in an FBI conference room. Agent Fuller, Colton's superior, is among these agents and, on Scully's recommendation, he plans on immediately starting the stake-out of the building where George Usher was killed, as Scully believes the killer will return there. The FBI meeting ends with Agent Fuller suggesting that Scully remain with his team, mockingly referring obliquely to her usual work, and the other agents present in the room laugh at Fuller's joke. CRIME SCENE, 7:15 P.M. Alone in a car, Scully is conducting stakeout in the parking lot of Usher's building when she is alerted by a faint banging noise. She creeps in the direction of the sound and is startled when Mulder jumps out at her, with a joke about the situation. While he continues to eat sunflower seeds that he has in his hand and starts to follow her back to her car, Scully asks what he is doing there but he only replies by insisting that the killer will not return to the building, having already beaten the challenge it presented to him. Mulder walks away, announcing he is heading home, but on his way through the parking garage, he notices that something is moving inside a metallic chute, hidden from sight. He runs back to Scully's car, where she follows his advice by calling for backup and following him over to the chute. Complying with directions from Scully, a man crawls out of the chute. He is then taken captive by other agents who soon arrive and, as Mulder walks away again, he quietly admits to Scully that she was right. Act Two FBI BUREAU BALTIMORE, MARYLAND A polygraph test is conducted on the man - Eugene Victor Tooms, an employee of the Baltimore Municipal Animal Control. Agents Colton and Fuller, watching from an adjacent observation room in which Scully and Mulder also sit, react with irritation when Tooms is asked two questions that concern the murders from years ago, after the agents learn that Mulder is responsible for the inclusion of these questions. Shifting in his seat, Tooms replies to the examiner's last question, whether he is afraid of failing the test, by professing that he is, adding that his nervousness is because he is innocent. Later, in the room where the test was conducted, the examiner declares to Agents Colton, Mulder and Scully that, in her own opinion, the test found Tooms innocent. Agent Fuller arrives with news that supports Tooms' alibi of having been looking for a dead cat but Scully argues with Fuller, questioning the alibi. Mulder announces his finding that Tooms lied on the same two questions that Mulder had the examiner ask but Agent Fuller doubts Mulder's discovery in annoyance, even interrupting the examiner - when she begins to explain those readings to Mulder - by angrily shouting at him that Tooms was obviously not alive in 1933. Fuller asserts that he is about to allow Tooms' release and hurries out of the room, followed by the examiner. After Colton agitatedly asks Scully if she is coming with him, she politely declines, nevertheless thanking him for allowing her to temporarily work with the Violent Crimes Section. Recalling their earlier conversation, Colton tells Scully that Mulder is not only "out there" but "insane" before rushing out of the room, leaving her alone with Mulder. As they walk through a busy work area, Scully wonders why Mulder pushed his theory even though he clearly knew the other investigators would never believe it. He suggests that he did so not only because he believed Tooms was guilty but also due to his opinion that his own admittedly frequent encounters with cynics increased the need to play up to their cynical expectations of him. Scully remarks that he was acting extremely territorially but turns away, dismissing her comment. Mulder quickly turns her back, confirming that she is correct in her observation. He values the fact that, even if she does not always agree with him, she respects "the journey" that each of their investigations takes. Mulder pledges to accept her continued cooperation with the Violent Crimes Section, if she wishes to rejoin them, but she follows him up a set of a stairs, curious as to what other evidence has caused Mulder to so firmly believe his bizarre theory that Tooms committed the murders from years ago. Using a computer, Mulder shows Scully definitive proof that Tooms was responsible for Usher's murder as well as the series of murders from the X-files. Mulder is unsure why Tooms' elongated fingerprints were found at each of the crime scenes and is only certain that the killer has been set free. Meanwhile, another businessman named Mr. Werner arrives home while Tooms watches from the darkness. Once Mr. Werner enters his residence, Tooms climbs up one of the building's walls and onto the roof where he reaches down the chimney, his fingers extending as he does so, before squeezing his entire body down the chimney. Mr. Werner tries to light a fire in his fireplace but a puzzled expression passes his features when the flame does not catch light. Grunting and dirty, Tooms attacks Mr. Werner from behind him as the last remaining embers go out. Act Three Act Four Act Five Background Information *This is one of the most famous episodes of The X-Files and was the first to feature a "Monster of the Week". The story would be concluded later in "Tooms". *As the first two episodes had involved UFOs, 20th Century Fox requested that the next story focus on something completely different. Evidently, writers Glen Morgan and James Wong complied with that request. *This episode is slightly similar to The Night Strangler, the second of two movies in the Kolchak: The Night Stalker series. In that film, a serial killer rose from the Seattle Underground every twenty-one years. The killer would strangle his victims and use their blood to keep himself alive for over a century. *Writers James Wong and Glen Morgan were also inspired by Jack the Ripper and a large ventilator shaft outside their office. According to Morgan, the episode's concept began when he asked Wong, "What if we were working late at night and some guy came through that thing?" *Morgan originally thought that actor Doug Hutchison looked too young to play Eugene Victor Tooms. The director, Harry Longstreet, instructed Hutchison to "go from a neutral position to an attack position". When the actor started snapping nastily at the director and disturbing everyone by spontaneously assuming the character's behavior, Morgan was convinced that Hutchison should play Tooms. Longstreet was somewhat reluctant to cast Hutchison, but the producers realized that he was the right actor for the role. *Chris Carter contributed the idea of the killer having developed a taste for human liver. He was influenced by a recent visit to France, where he had eaten a lot of foie gras. According to Morgan, the writers settled on the liver as it was "funnier than any other organ". *In real life, Doug Hutchison is vegetarian. Memorable Quotes *""Is there any way I can get it off my fingers quickly without betraying my cool exterior?"" - Mulder *"So, what is this - the Anti-Waltons?" - Mulder Guest Cast Guest Starring *Doug Hutchison as Eugene Victor Tooms *Donal Logue as Agent Tom Colton *Henry Beckman as Detective Frank Briggs Co-Starring *Kevin McNulty as Fuller *Terence Kelly as Usher *Colleen Winton as Examiner Featuring *James Bell as Det. Johnson *Gary Hetherington as Kennedy *Rob Morton as Kramer *Paul Joyce as Mr. Werner References liver; Category:X-Files episodes